Sara Vincent has joined generic medicine manufacturer Alpharma as sales & marketing director UK. She brings to Alpharma broad-based experience in sales and marketing, her most recent position being that of business unit director, Novartis UK.
Another new appointment at Alpharma is Cass Khan who takes on the role of brand/hospital project manager. He joins from Pharmacia where he was commercial manager responsible for mature brands and hospital generics.
Astex Technology, the fragment-based drug discovery company, has appointed Dr John Lyons as director of oncology. He will oversee the preclinical development of drug candidates emerging from Astex's drug discovery projects in oncology and further expand the company's growing capability in drug and clinical development. Dr Lyons joins Astex from SuperGen, of San Francisco, where he was a senior director.
Laurence Peyronnet has joined Valois pharmaceutical division as business development manager. She has several years' experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Prior to joining Valois, she held the position of business development manager at biotech company Meristem Therapeutics. Her new responsibilities include business development and marketing for the multidose spray pumps product range.
German biotech company BioVisioN has appointed Dr Peter Schulz-Knappe as chief scientific officer and member of the executive. He replaces Dr Rudolf Reiter who left the board in December. Dr Schulz-Knappe is one of the founders of BioVisioN and was ceo of the company until April 2003. Dr Rainer Voegeli has joined BioVisioN's management team as chief business officer and head of business development and marketing. Dr Hans-Dieter Zucht has been appointed chief information officer in addition to his position as head of bioinformatics.
Avantium Technologies, of the Netherlands, has made several key management appointments. Guus Scheefhals joins the life sciences business team from DSM, to focus on Avantium's German and Scandinavian clients. Cees Brasser has been recruited from Engelhard to join the chemicals business team alongside Alan Smith. Both teams report to Lieven De Smedt, who was appointed last October to the newly created position of chief business officer.
At the same time, Graeme Purdy became chief operating officer to support the efforts of the business team and improve operational practices.